Official Spaceship Church

 

Yesterday after I wrote, in fact as I was taking a shower, it occurred to me that what I should have said to the girl who called me a pig in Spanish was, "No soy cochina, so conejita," or I'm not a pig, I'm a bunny. Not rude at all, kind of nonsensical, but driving home the point that I totally understood what she was saying. Why do I always think of these things twenty-four hours too late?? When I told my colleague the story today as we walked during lunch, she wanted to see my Look of Death so I tried, but she said I just looked surprised. I said, "I'm not angry right now, so I can't summon that look of pure hatred." She conceded the point. In a sense the kid's not wrong about me being a pig, since I was born in the Year of the Pig, but somehow I don't think that's what she was getting at.

Tonight Rich and I went to see a movie called Jesus Thirsts, about the Eucharist. I'm not sure who the target audience for this movie is, since non-religious people probably wouldn't see it, and practicing Catholics know this stuff already. There were some interesting parts about a Vietnamese bishop who was in prison for years, and how his family snuck him wine and hosts by labeling them as medicine, and various languages were spoken in the movie because parts were set in Slovenia, Vietnam, Uganda, and Italy, among other places. There was also a part I liked about people in New York City reacting to an invitation to eucharistic adoration. Maybe rather than making movies about the Eucharist, the best way to introduce people to it is, in fact, to invite them to eucharistic adoration. I personally was drawn to the Eucharist even before I really understood it. I remember one day walking down the sidewalk and being drawn into a local hospital, then into the chapel, then right to the tabernacle... and this was a modern-looking chapel, so the tabernacle was not in an expected place. I may have been a practicing Catholic by then, but I hadn't even realized there was a chapel in the hospital, or given it any thought. It was like the Eucharist literally called me in off the sidewalk.

Tiffy has a new polling place:

I love that it is officially the Spaceship Church. Apparently the ominous line about the change in ownership and facility use of the former space is because it is no longer a church but a daycare. The same thing happened to a Lutheran church here in town too. While I'd prefer people to be Catholic, I am saddened by all these Protestant churches closing lately. A Methodist church not far from us just closed. Then people complain that they have no Third Spaces anymore (i.e., not home or work), but church was a very popular Third Space for previous generations. It's free, too, not like a bowling alley or bar. They like you to donate, but they don't force you to.

I know everyone was waiting on pins and needles to find out if I won the Diamond Tournament. Well, wait no more!

I actually came in third. Sorry to disappoint you. But everyone in the Top Ten (I think?) won the tournament, so in a sense I am a winner. At least in a DuoLingo sense.

Famous Hat